Herd Word

NHL AWARDS
Happy NHL awards day!! Tonight the 2013-14 National Hockey League awards will be presented in Las Vegas. The show can be seen on TSN starting at 8pm Atlantic time. Former Halifax Mooseheads star Nathan MacKinnon is one of three canditates for the Calder Trophy which is presented to the NHL Rookie of the Year. The other two are teammates from the Tampa Bay Lightning who join the Colorado Avalanche as the teams with the most nominees with four each.

WORLD JUNIORS
It was announced on Monday that three Moose players have been invited to their country's world junior development camps which will be held in August. For the third straight year, Jonathan Drouin and Zach Fucale have been invited to Team Canada's camp that is held in Brossard and Sherbrooke, Quebec every summer. Not exactly sure how this will play out with NHL team camps but either way that is a busy month for both boys and I will have details when they become available. Camp is August 3-8 this year. I guess coming to the Canadian Hockey League and playing quite well was good for Timo Meier who got the news on Monday that he has been invited to Team Swizterland's camp. It will be held in Arosa, Swizterland sometime in August.

GALLANT
Gerard Gallant has been hired as the Florida Panthers new head coach. He was the assistant coach of the Montreal Canadiens for two years after spending three years as head coach of the Saint John Sea Dogs. This reunites Gallant with former Dogs player Jonathan Huberdeau.

NHL DRAFT
The National Hockey League Entry Draft is on Friday and the Mooseheads have three players who are projected to be drafted. The highest ranked player being rookie sensation Nikolaj Ehlers, who has gone up in the draft rankings throughout the season with his play. Some are hesitant to really believe he is as good as he is because he spent a lot of time with Jonathan Drouin. Thirty of Drouin's 79 assists were on the PP but probably a third were actually on Ehlers' goals. Last night on TSN, Bob MacKenzie released his final rankings (1-30) in the first of many pre-draft shows that TSN is hosting this week. For the full list click here.

Matt Murphy and Danny Moynihan are also eligible for this year's draft. Moynihan is ranked #77 in the final Central Scouting rankings. In his second year of eligibility, Murphy is ranked #128. In a year that had big names and four Moose drafted, there just wasn't enough space for Matt.

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
Just a reminder the Canadian Hockey League import draft is on July 2nd (next Wednesday). The Sarnia Sting will pick first while the Quebec Remparts, Saint John Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes are the only QMJHL teams in the first 10 picks. Your Mooseheads will pick 50th and 110th overall. I will have a recap of Halifax's picks at the end of the night.